Notice
by MissBonhamCartersPoppet
Summary: Elphie and Galinda's beggining. Gelphie. Bookverse for the most part.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Don't even ask. I blame the jet lag. Bookverse.

Disclaimer: I do not own this scene, however much I may have mutilated it.

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Galinda

_Breathe in. Breathe out. Check the perfume- overpowering as always. Walk by a window- hair in place? Every curl. Batter your eyelids for the college boys- there, one of them winked. That's the effect we want, right? Move on. Places to be, places to be seen. Where could that darned Ama Clutch be? For Goodness's sake, how long could it possibly take to remove a single nail? Never mind her. Make an entrance. Where are those doors again? Ask the goat, wait, _Goat_, for directions. No, don't walk me _in_, stuffy old professor- that would hardly make a desirable first impression. All right, down this corridor, rich oaken panels. Just raise your knuckles- admire the pallidity of your wrist in the sunlight- and open the door-_

_**Elphaba**_

_Head high. Above all else, remember. Head high. Ignore the obvious poverty your attire suggests, walk quickly toward the room. A Madame Morrible- headmistress. She is who we need to concentrate on- not this gallery of youthful vanity and snobbery. Scowl at that boy, he was obviously not winking at you. Exhibition A demonstrating another reason you do not belong at this institute- look at the girl walking ahead. How long must she have spent curling that hair this morning? That bouncing, golden hair. See how it flows, draped along her neck. Gorgeous hair. Wait- what? No, no, no, no. Clear your head, Elphaba Thropp. We are here to learn. It seems she is making the same route as I, how lucky. She pauses at the door- is she staring at her arm? - and adjusts her smile. How odd. Look, she's walked in now- rid yourself of that image immediately, please- and we follow._

_**Galinda**_

_So many faces! And not all of them handsome. It would seem as though I've the monopoly on looks here- much as I'd expected, of course. Enter the room to stuffy silence, as every form turns to evaluate the new arrival. Me. Smile sweetly, search for future ties- yes, the diamonds in the corner seem acceptable. Walk quietly over to the grinning, fish-like woman- shake hands- be dainty!- and try to move nearer to the diamond girls. Swing your hips ever so slightly, let your hair catch the light- and oh Oz! Why are they screaming?_

_**Elphaba**_

_Brace yourself. Keep that chin up! It's sharp for a reason. Step in, proudly but not overstated. Hold for a second- and there are the screams. Keep your expression constant. Look only at the adult in the room, Morrible- sweet Oz, what happened to the woman's face?- introduce yourself. Oh, but she knows you! There, your whole title for the entire room to hear. How pathetic, the fake friendliness that accompanies power. Saunter to the back of the room, ignore their gazes. We've suffered them long enough, have we not? Study your hands. Don't blush!_

_**Galinda**_

_What _is_she? How marvelous! To be actually green! How unfortunate, and yet how interesting! Don't stare now, that would bring you down to their level. I wish they would not gape so. The girl, Elphaba, Morrible said, the Eminent Thropp Third Descending, is no display in a circus. What atrocious behaviour for people of our upbringing. Oh, steal one more glance!_

_**Elphaba**_

_Look up once- just once- catch the blonde girl's gaze. She is embarrassed to have been caught staring. But look at her eyes! Could they possibly be more beautiful than that flaxen hair? Like sapphire, but deeper, brighter... Elphaba! Stop!_

_**Galinda**_

_She sees me! So mysterious, so foreign! And there is a danger, a beauty in her countenance. Why has my heart began to race? Look away, you foolish girl. She is already an undesirable, you can see that. Arch your neck, flip your hair prettily- wait, no. Don't. Who are you impressing? Oh, the fish woman is speaking again. Roommates. Something about roommates. Concentrate._

_**Elphaba**_

_Do not train your eyes on her back. Look forward, up, down, anywhere but the nape of her neck. Don't even think about that. Why is she flipping her hair?_

_**Galinda**_

_Is she still looking?_

_**Elphaba**_

_Is she still looking?_

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"Miss Elphaba! Miss Galinda! Are you listening to me at all?"

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	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Different format to the first chapter, but equally short and pointless :)

Disclaimer: Dis nie myna nie. (Yes, impressive linguistic skill, I know)

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"Miss Elphaba? Miss Galinda? Yoo-hoo?"

_And focus on breathing, even . What a befitting name._

"Well well. It appears that Miss Elphaba and Miss Galinda are too absorbed in their own little universes to pay much attention to us, girls. I think I know how to remedy that- _give _them their own little world. You two will be sharing a dorm in the upper half of the faculty- come and collect your keys, please. You may stare into each other's eyes as much as you wish while you are there."

_Don't look too pleased with yourself, Elphaba._

_Sweet Oz, I can't be seen with her! There are standards! Something must be said. And... I was NOT "staring into her eyes." That's ridiculous._

"Oh, Madame Morrible?" Galinda tinkered lightly- _listen to her voice! Like a symphony _- "I think you've made some sort of error here. You see," she drew herself up to her fullest height, "I am Galinda Upland. Of the Upper Uplands," she continued when she had drawn no response.

"Yes, dear? And what is this problem?" Morrible spoke flatly.

"Well," Galinda threw her eyes over at Elphaba, trying to gage her reaction, "I am of the higher class here. I was led to expect that I would receive, at the very least, a single suite for my own private use for the duration of my stay here at Cage Hall. I am confused as to how I must be expected to share living space with someone so.. Well, quite so..."

_So she's just like the rest, then. Well done, Elphaba. False hope has once again betrayed you._

"Green?" Elphaba had joined the conversation now, her face set in a deep scowl.

"Y-yes." Galinda faulted, detesting the way Elphaba was glaring at her.

_Don't stare at me like that, please. It's what I'm expected to do!_

Madame Morrible let out a large, belting laugh. It was malicious and indelicate, and the sound shocked the girls who were her audience.

"You two will room together, and teach each other manners. Miss Elphaba- share some of your humility with dear Miss Upland. And Miss Galinda, do try to rid Miss Elphaba's face of that awful scowl, would you?"

"But, Madame," Galinda pleaded, her brow furrowed.

Morrible threw a crisp, silencing glance at the blonde, daring her to speak again. "Here are your room keys. I suggest you take yourself off to your dorm before I employ someone to escort you, Miss Galinda."

Elphaba stomped loudly to the front of the room and snatched the keys from Morrible's fingers. She turned and gave the room one more contemptuous look before storming back out through the door, predictably on her way to the room. Galinda huffed a sigh into the silence that followed, and walked Elphaba's path to the door. She turned, as Elphaba had done, upon reaching the frame, and opened her mouth in what would have been a last, desperate protest, but quickly reconsidered when she saw the cold look Morrible wore. Instead she settled for raising her hand in farewell, and expressing the wish that _any_of the other girls were always welcome (here she looked pointedly at the girls in the corner) to visit, and that she would be thrilled to make their acquaintance.

_And so it begins. Should I feel so thrilled?_

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	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for all the alerts and reviews! I didn't expect anyone to pay this oddity much attention.

Disclaimer: I don't own it, blah blah blah._

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_Does she ever get her nose out of that book? We've been here for two hours, and not a word has been exchanged. She emptied that pitifully thin suitcase in less than five minutes- withdrawing only three frocks, a stack of dusty looking books and something which she shoved under her pillow and out of sight too fast for me to catch a glimpse of- it glimmered green. Now, as I've unpacked, she sits jack-knifed on her thin mattress, completely absorbed in the writing, though still tense. There is so much apprehension in the air, and I've no plausible explanation for it. Is she still upset about her less-than-welcoming reception? Have I injured her pride somehow? Oh! There are a million things I want to ask her, just to see her mouth move. Did she feel what I- but no. I must remember myself. There was enough trouble at home, the first time- I will not let myself fall into that again. But look at how wide her eyes become when she learns something new! Look at her minutely parted lips, mouthing the words faster than it takes for me to recognise. I am in fascination, but I cannot let her know it._

_Stop sneaking glances at her when her back is turned, and she puts yet another pink sequin-adorned dress away in that enormous closet. Pay attention to the book. Remember her speech in the lounge- she made herself very clear on the point that she is "too good" to be roomed with one so unsuitable as you. I cannot read her face- I would predict her expression to be one of disgruntlement, or, at worst, disgust; but it looks more like confusion, or, dare I say, regret? For all that happened since, I cannot help but remember that first excitement, that first connection. Did I make it all up? How I wish I could open my mouth to speak to her, but I am seemingly paralysed by nerves- and what are these butterflies in my stomach? But just watch how she dances across the room! She radiates brightness. How very different from myself. Oh dear, she caught my eye again. Why does she look more flustered than I? Could she...? But don't be delusional, Elphaba._

_I knew she was staring! That's the third time I've turned around to find her eyes looking furtively in my direction. The pressure to say something seems to be building by the minute. I can hardly breathe amongst all the tension. And, for Oz's sake Galinda, stop showing off! There is no need to flounce across the room so. You are making such a spectacle of yourself! Think of Popsicle. What would he say if he knew what you were thinking about this girl? - yet another girl._

"Hi!" Galinda placed a dazzling smile across her face, looking expectantly at Elphaba as though they had only just been introduced.

Elphaba snapped her head up from the page as though slapped, and gave Galinda a faintly amused look. "I was under the impression we'd been introduced already, Miss Galinda Upland _of the Upper Uplands._" She grinned smugly at the pink rising in Galinda's neck at her words, and lowered her gaze back down to her book.

_What are you doing, Elphaba?! Isn't talking to her what you've been daydreaming about for the last hour and a half?_

"Oh, yes, that is true.." Galinda looked slightly mortified, and Elphaba felt a small bubble of guilt inflate in her abdomen. "In respect to that, I would like to offer my, well, apology, Miss Elphaba. It was... Wrong, of me to speak so crudely. In actual fact, I'm rather, well, _pleased _to share your company." Galinda paused here, biting her lip. Elphaba raised her eyebrows.

"Pleased?" she spoke the word with cynical disbelief.

"And," Galinda pressed on, ignoring the interruption, "since we are expected to spend such a vast amount of time together, I'd really rather we did not abhor each other." She swallowed. "What I am trying to say, I suppose, is that I'd like for us to try to be friends."

Elphaba's eyes softened at these last words, and the ghost of a smile brushed her lips. "Very well then, Miss Upland. Friends."

A real smile, one that reached all the way up to her eyes, broke out on the blonde girl's face. "Galinda. You can call me Galinda."

There was a silence, neither awkward nor companionable, and the girls returned to their respective occupations. But now Elphaba read with a new fevor in her eyes, and Galinda flounced with an even perkier bounce. Both knew that something had changed between them- and it was secretly celebrated by both.

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	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: You know the story... I am not Maguire... Being, um, female and all...

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"I really don't understand how you can _bare _to be stuck with that stick of asparagus, Galinda, I really don't. I would be positively _livid _were I in your situation!" Shenshen shook her large head with emotion.

"Mmms" and "I completely agrees" were muttered within the small group, and each girl turned to Galinda with _deeply _sympathetic eyes. It was the first weekend break since term and classes had begun, and Galinda, along with Misses Shenshen, Pfannee and Milla were sipping delicately on china cups of tea at one of the many tearooms that had sprouted up near the campus of Shiz University.

"I just don't know how you get along!" Shenshen continued loudly, "To think, where she had been brought up, among those," here she paused, throwing a loaded look around the table, "_barbarians _in Quadling Country, she can't have learned the proper way to be civilised in company, can she girls?"

More agreement.

"So tell us, Galinda _darling_, is it utterly horrible? Does she even bathe?" Shenshen glared straight at the blonde.

_No, actually, you empty-headed baubles! And I'd rather spend all my time with Elphaba than sit here with you painfully shallow society girls!_

"Oh, _yes,_" Galinda spoke, her eyes wide with injustice. "It's just awful. I mean, she doesn't do anything but talk about Animal rights- always blabbing on about some or other mistreatment somewhere across Oz. It's frightfully boring."

Pfannee responded giggling. "Well, it makes sense she'd be interested in Animals, doesn't it girls, considering she's close enough to one herself!"

The three girls laughed nastily, and Galinda forced the sides of her mouth upwards into what was intended to be a smile, but looked more like a grimace. She sipped quickly on her tea to hide the sudden fury in her eyes.

_Speak up, you coward! How could you, her only friend, let them get away with talking about Elphaba this way?_

"But there's even more scandolous things, I've heard," Milla piped up, "Do you girls know the story about her sister, Nessarose?"

Pfannee and Shenshen were on her like flies to meat. "Oh, no! _Do _tell us, Milla dear! Is she purple?"

_Nessarose? Elphaba hadn't mentioned a sister..._

"Well," Milla began enthusiastically, "They say her mother was deeply disturbed, infamous for having affairs left, right and centre, and the father is intensely religious- swallowed up by his faith. So when she, the mother, gave birth to the _green bean,_" a pause for laughter, "Frex Thropp, her father, was certain that she was a gift from the devil himself." A series of excitable gasps. Milla nodded gravely and continued. "Nearly killed the child at birth, so I'm told. So when next the mother falls pregnant, she was terrified of birthing another monster. Ate Milk Flowers day and night, the rumours say. And then Nessarose came out, a lovely pink colour to be certain, but..." She had reached the crux of her story, and the group hung onto her every word, Galinda's eyes wide with pity.

"Well? What was wrong with the other sister?" Shenshen demanded impatiently.

Milla lowered her voice, as though confessing a shameful sin. "She was born _without arms_."

Stunned silence collapsed over the group for a moment, just a moment, then talking erupted at once.

"That poor family, to be so cursed..."

"What a shame, with such a title to their name as well..."

"I pity the mother, she must feel so hopeless, having to raise two such imperfect children..."

Galinda, however, said nothing and placed her hand lightly on Milla's arm. "But what happened to Elphaba's mother?" she said softly.

"Oh," Milla brushed away the question lightly, "I hear she died in childbirth, the poor thing."

_Poor Elphaba. No wonder she's so broken._

Galinda stood up suddenly, and made her excuses to leave. After half-hearted protests, she was allowed to escape the stuffy air of the tea-room, and she half-ran the route back to her and Elphaba's dorm. She opened the door meekly, hoping her roommate had not decided to spend her Saturday at the school library.

_There she is, as usual, sitting on her bedsheet, up to her elbows in work._

Elphaba looked up at the sound of Galinda's entrance, and smiled slightly at the blonde's dishevelled appearance.

"Goodness, Galinda, did you run here? Tell me, how was tea with the vultures? Do you feel sufficiently less intelligent?" Elphaba spoke lightly, but there was a real question in her eyes.

"Oh, Elphie, they're just awful." Galinda walked over to the green girl's bed and hugged her tightly.

"Galinda! Um, what are you doing?" Elphaba sounded slightly alarmed, unused to the sudden physical contact. "Have you been drinking?"

But Galinda didn't let go, and soon Elphaba heard quiet sobs through the fabric of her frock.

"I'm sorry," Galinda hiccoughed, but for what, Elphaba would never find out.

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	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Just a little bit of a filler. Not really a chapter. But I think it's important to mark their... Um... _Progress.

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_It's ridiculous, absurd, to feel this way. She's your roommate, Elphaba. Your beautiful, perfect roommate. And you know what you feel, but you also know that she'd never feel the same way. So just dip your head and try to ignore how sweet her breathing sounds as she sleeps._

_Don't even think about it._

_Don't look at how her golden hair fans out across the pink satin of her pillow._

_Don't think about her hands, holding on tightly to that crummy old teddy-bear she insists sleeping with._

_Don't notice how her quilt has fallen off, slightly, revealing her nightgown- a nightgown that has ridden up, just a little..._

Elphaba turned on her side, away from the sight of her roommate. This was not the first time she'd lay awake in her bed in the early hours of the morning, just staring at Galinda in the pale light of early sun, condemming every thought that crossed her mind, but unable to stop looking. It was also not the first time that Galinda had awoken to feel Elphaba's eyes on her back.

_Don't stop._

"Elphie..."

"Yes, Galinda?"

"Can I ask you something important?"

"It's four in the morning."

"Why do you stare?"

Silence.

"I don't quite know, Galinda."

Silence.

"Okay."

And they lay together, beds parallel, until the sun had risen.


End file.
